


right now, it gets me by

by breadpoetsociety (orphan_account)



Series: voltron writing challenges week 2k17 [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Homesickness, Late Night Conversations, Maps, Voltron Writing Challenge Week 2017, i want them to bond, lance and allura are more similar than we give them credit for being
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 21:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9844400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/breadpoetsociety
Summary: Allura sat silent for a moment, trying to collect herself before she cried. Her voice was small when she spoke again: “I know we’re supposed to be defending the universe, but honestly, I just want to go home.”voltron writing challenges week day 1: a character you struggle with





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is a part of the voltron writing challenges week 2k17 as sponsored by the lovely emmaluluchu! today's prompt is to write for a character you struggle with. i spend all my time writing lance and keith (and mostly lance), so i decided to switch it up by writing lance and allura this time.
> 
> title comes from the front bottoms' "everything i own:" "this is not the way I plan on living for the rest of my life. but for right now, it gets me by, it gets me by." enjoy!

Allura didn’t often wander around the castle after dinner– she usually preferred to spend alone time in the hologram room, or her own quarters. But some nights it was impossible to just sit in her cold, empty room light years away from any of her paladins– her friends.

At least, she hoped they were friends. She certainly cared for them deeply, but their situation was so unique. It doesn’t seem like she would have been chummy with any of the Paladins if they were still on Altea– perhaps Shiro, since he’s so charming. And beefy.

She knew she shouldn’t play favorites, but hey, she’s only Altean.

Her bare feet took her to the main control room, expecting it to be empty and dim. Instead, the holomap was up, making her eyes swim as bright stars circled the wide room.

“Hi, Princess,” and the culprit using the map waved at Allura from his comfortable position on the floor. Though he greeted her, Lance’s eyes never left the sky. Allura recognized the galaxy he was looking at. Milky Way.

“How are you, Lance?” she asked, cautiously moving to stand next to the Blue Paladin. She clutched her nightgown a little closer. The control room always seemed more like a tundra when everyone wasn’t in it.

“Más o menos,” Lance said, then grinned up at the Princess, who quirked an eyebrow down at him. “It means so-so, in Spanish. You know I was thinking I should teach you some, and then we could have our own secret language for when everyone else is around!”

“For more flirting?” Allura scoffed. Exhausting boy.

“Nah,” Lance said, turning his attention back to the map, smile still plastered on his face. “Just for fun.”

Oh. Allura couldn’t help but laugh a little as she sat down, drawing her knees in under her. She joined Lance, watching the galaxies spin around them, now moving away from Lance’s home universe and heading to others.

“I grew up speaking Spanish,” Lance said, filling the room with a comforting voice. He was fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt.  “Did Altea have different languages?”

“Oh, yes, several,” Allura said with an nod, tapping her fingers against the floor to count. “Too many to learn. I knew about six.”  

“That’s amazing,” Lance’s eyes widened and he nudged Allura with his elbow. “I only know four languages! You’ll have to teach me yours and then I can know ten!”

His enthusiasm was infectious– Allura couldn’t help but perk up at the suggestion, and her nods returned, more keen this time.

“Anyway,” the pilot in blue pajama pants continued. “Like I said, Spanish is my first language. And when I moved to the United States, hardly anyone spoke it. So my siblings and I would use it sort of like a code– to tell secrets or just talk to each other.

“I miss that a lot,” he said with a wistful sigh.

“It’s so funny to me how similar Altea and your Earth are. My father didn’t speak Oajun– a language from southern Altea– but I had learned it. It would always frustrate him so much when I used it,” Allura laughed, but it was quickly undercut by longing as well.

“That’s really funny,” Lance said in an uncharacteristically tender voice. Or was it that out of character? The Blue Lion was the heart of Voltron. It would make sense that her pilot would have the same sensibilities.

And Lance was so easy to talk to like this, when he wasn’t trying to make a point or impress anyone or cover up some perceived insecurity. Another night, she would bring that up to him. But tonight didn’t feel right for self-improvement talk. Sometimes you just needed to reminisce.

“Do you miss Arus at all?” Lance asked.

“I was asleep for most of my time there, so not particularly,” Allura answered honestly, smoothing out a wrinkle on her nightgown. “It’s a lovely planet but. It’s not Altea. Though I’m sure that sounds ridiculous.”

“No, I know what you mean,” Lance said. The cool light of the map reflected in both of their blue eyes. “I was telling Coran once– actually the night the castle got taken– I was telling him that… You know, other planets might objectively be cooler but. Home is a special place.”

Allura shuddered at the mention of the fall of the Castle of Lions. Not the most fun experience the team had ever had. One that she often blamed herself for. The rest of Lance’s statement plucked other unsettling heartstrings. Allura tried to ignore the burning from behind her eyes.

“I don’t like to mope over home,” Allura said with a deep exhale. Her heart felt heavy. “It wouldn’t change anything. And to be honest, it doesn’t even feel real most of the time.”

“I bet. I mean, you wake up and you’re just thrust into all of this,” Lance trailed off, eyebrows bunched together. Allura’s straightening of her nightgown had turned into her twisting the fabric in her hands.

What was that Earth phrase? Stop beating around the bush? Perhaps it was time to dive into the foliage, then.

“Yes, it’s just,” and now Allura couldn’t help her voice from cracking. “It’s so much, you know? One day I feel that my father is going to stop Zarkon, next thing I know I’m waking up 10,000 years later and everyone I know, everyone I  _ love  _ is dead. And it’s like… I don’t even realize it most days, because we’re so busy fighting.

“I hate all this fighting. I didn’t ask to become a commander for Voltron. I never was going to– I wasn’t even going into diplomacy. I just…”

Allura sat silent for a moment, trying to collect herself before she cried. Her voice was small when she spoke again: “I know we’re supposed to be defending the universe, but honestly, I just want to go home.”

A shuffling sound, and Lance had scooted closer and placed a hand between her shoulder blades, rubbing her back comfortingly. The fabric of her nightgown was much darker when wet, Allura noticed.

“I can’t say I know exactly how you feel,” Lance finally said, voice low and comforting. “But I know what it’s like to not want this. To want home.”

“I’d leave if I could,” Allura said into her knee, tears slowing, leaving almost luminescent tracks down her face. “I already tried to, and almost flew us straight into a collapsing star.”

“No shame in trusting your father, Allura,” Lance said, more firmly this time. “Or… fake father. Whatever. Just believe me, if someone told me I could wormhole back to Earth tomorrow, you bet your bottom dollar I would.”

Allura turned her head, watching the stars slowly dance by on the holomap. Hunk had once told mentioned they looked like fireflies– little balls of flame that apparently flew around Earth during the warm season.

She watched the stars and planets swarm, familiar galaxies littering the inky black of space– and there. There was her home one. 

“Altea is still on all these maps,” she said, pointing off toward the side of the room in its general direction. Lance peered curiously past her to look. “It’s nice to still have a reminder that it was real.”

Allura sighed and tucked her chin in between her legs, cheek resting on her right knee. “I really would have liked to take you all there,” she said wistfully. “It was beautiful– all blue skies and brilliant green fields, and the juniberries– You really would have liked it.”

“Earth has blue skies and green grass,” he said softly after a moment. “I know it’s not the same, but it might be nice for you to visit someday.”

“Thank you, Lance. I’d like that,” Allura murmured, and the two watched the sky for the rest of the night, the stars promising: things will be alright, someday. 

**Author's Note:**

> come hang out with me on tumblr @ breadpoetsociety and twitter @ breadpoetsociet


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